Skip to main content

tv   BBC Newsnight  PBS  September 22, 2012 5:00am-5:30am EDT

5:00 am
>> this is "bbc newsnight." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. and union bank. ourt union bank,
5:01 am
relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in. working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> a massacre in kenya as political violence rears its head. this week, we report from kenya where political killings are already disfiguring an election that is six months away. >> he did not speak. did just shouted " kill, kill, kill!" >> we look at the next move for one of europe's largest
5:02 am
economies. >> it is difficult for spain now that the country is a modernized and competitive. the closer you get to the politicians here, you realize how few of them are prepared to except what that means. >> when we talk to an author. >> the two main characters -- >> hello. kenya has been rocked by the discovery of mass graves. the grapes are believed to hold the remains of more than 100 -- the graves are believed to hold the remains of more than 100 people. after the last election, violence claimed more than 1000 lives. our east africa correspondent gabriel gatehouse examines the latest massacre and the upcoming vote.
5:03 am
>> by the time we got to the village here, there was no one laughed. most of the thatched mud houses had been torched. the only living things were the flies and the birds picking over the remains of the butchered animals in silence. the attackers had come in the early morning. there were several hundred men. some more armed with guns. most were armed with spears, clubs, or bows and arrows. they set fire to the huts. some ran for shelter in the mosque, but 38 people were hacked to death. men, women, and children indiscriminately. it was a massacre. >> the village was under siege of a sudden. there were so many of them. they were wearing red bandannas and right -- and white shoes.
5:04 am
they did not speak. do just shouted "kill, kill, kill!" >> fresh earth marks the spot where some of the victims remain buried in a mass grave. it will be a long time before people venture back here. on the surface, it is a conflict between access -- is a conflict about access to land and water. on the other side -- a semi- automatic group -- semi-nomadic group seeking grazing land for the herds. in the past, the differences have been resolved mostly peacefully. now things have changed. >> of course we are afraid. >> he shows me his newly
5:05 am
acquired spear and a dagger. "we have our weapons. if anything happens, we will retaliate. we will defend ourselves." five years ago kenya shop itself and the world. clashes -- shocked itself and the world. the clashes featured communities turning on each other, killing and maiming with the parents abandon. -- with apparent abandon. they lashed out at those who benefited from the outcome. the bloodshed continued for months. in the end, 1200 people were dead and over 500,000 were homeless. but the killings were not entirely spontaneous. four men are due to stand trial at the international criminal court in the hague.
5:06 am
two of those men are running for president in the next election. v long shadow of 2008 now hangs over kenya as it appears -- the long shadow of 2008 now hangs in virginia as it prepares to go back to the polls. tensions are simmering between the candidates. when people go to the polls in kenya, they are generally not thinking about manifestoes or platforms. it means getting your candidate elected. that generally means someone from your triborough community. success or failure could be the difference between getting a job or becoming unemployed and the success or failure of your political bloc could mean the difference between a road being built in your area or not. in kenya, elections are a matter of policy or prosperity. they can even be a matter of life or death. >> the politicians are preaching
5:07 am
peace to their constituents, but many kenyans simply do not believe these massacres were caused by small local land disputes. 1 local mp has been sacked from the cabinet on suspicion of fomenting the violence. others are suspected. >> the motive is to affect the way that people vote, to create fear and terror. political incumbency means freedom to kill. you become rich by being in government. so, people are willing to kill for that. >> land is a valuable commodity, and not just for the people who live upon it. investors, both local and international, are becoming interested in the region for all potential. on the other side of the fence,
5:08 am
there is a pilot project. they are growing crops to be converted into biofuels. if successful, it will be repeated along vast swathes of land here. the competition is taking place on those different levels -- on one hand, the individual herdsman versus the individual farmer, but there is potentially much bigger interests at stake here. >> the large farms -- and they do that with local partners. the local partners are always politically connected. and moving people off land that you want can be done in various ways. >> as you drive through the delta now, you come across abandoned village after abandoned village. many residents have simply fled
5:09 am
in anticipation of the trouble to come. thousands of ended up in camps like this one, sometimes far from home. whether they return is whether they feel confident enough in the security forces to guarantee their safety. after weeks of violence and more than 100 deaths, the government has belatedly since in the paramilitary police. the fear is as the scramble for votes intensifies across the country, these killings may mark the start of another bloody canyon alexian. >> gabriel a house their. -- a house their. now to the euro. the european central bank's promised to stand behind greece and spain seems to appease the markets, for now. -- is the euro crisis ending or
5:10 am
not? we have this report from spain. >> for the railway workers to took over madrid's main station this week, time is running out. 65 billion euros worth of cuts and tax increases are getting wages and jobs are hard. -- hitting wages and jobs hard. there is more austerity to come. soon, the spanish prime minister will be forced to take a bailout and the conditions are likely to be tougher sell. it has become an article of faith in spain and become -- that the country has to modernize and become competitive. but as you get closer, you realize how few politicians are prepared to accept what that
5:11 am
means, for them, but their party, and the system they have been running for the past 10 years. so, is europe really prepared to throw the hundreds of billions of bailout cash at the political class that brought this country to its knees? one man who helped design modern spain is the former socialist. >> my impression is simply that the government does not know what to do. is not just it is doing things wrong. my impression is it does not know what to do with the spanish economy. nor does it know what role europe should let. >> he believes that spain should take a bailout, based on the austerity program it has fallen -- already agreed. it should stop waiting and propose its own solution now. >> it has to be a spanish
5:12 am
proposal. this proposal from the government -- let's wait and see what the others are doing -- that is wrong. we should say, this is my position. this is what we want. in the answer will be yes or no. >> last week, 1.5 million catalans demanded outride independence. the region, one of spain's's richest, is bust. >> they do not know where it -- people protest because they do not know where we're going. no one has an explanation of what the government wants to do, except what the prime minister says "we do what we have to do, even if we do not like it." you have to explain what you're doing and why. are to be built -- buildup to the tune of 100
5:13 am
billion euros of taxpayer money. but it will be politically sensitive. tens of thousands were encouraged to buy shares of the banks and they could lose a lot. the crucial question for madrid remains the conditions on the sovereign bailout. germany wants them taw. spain's man on the european commission begs to differ. -- germany wants them taw. >> it is about the different obligations or commitments. that is relevant. >> you do not think spain need any additional substantive austerity measures imposed from outside? >> where we are right now, i don't think so. i think what spain needs is to regain confidence in the way those recommendations have been implemented. >> even if spain weights and protests, the pro-euro
5:14 am
political class sees this as a way to go forward. there have been strong calls for a rapid fiscal union, political union, and calls here in britain for a referendum. >> what we need is to see how the european parliament and the european commission that we are accountable. we need to have were the discussions that are democratic. means.not sure what that does that mean there should be a referendum? >> no, no, no. i am in favor of a parliament terry democracy. i think this democratic election, the european parliament elections in less than two years is a very, very important day for all the european people. there, the majority that will be
5:15 am
sitting there will be those who have in their hands most of the most important decisions. >> these are the massive stakes. solve the spanish crisis, and it is fast forward to political and fiscal union. but few expect the bailout to be welcomed by spain's people, and spain is the bailout light, will germany -- so vilified here -- by it? -- buy it? >> another week of demonstrations and unrest across the muslim world following a film that is said to mock the prophet muhammed. there was a cartoon also said to mark islamiah. i spoke about the developments with my guest. >> what do you think the west
5:16 am
should do? >> i think the west should stand for its principles. i think that president obama, secretary of state clinton, and other leaders across the western world should explain over and over again to their colleagues in arab-muslim countries that what they are demanding is something that date as elected politicians simply cannot give to them. there is constitutionally protected speech. the films we have seen, the cartoons. that is protected in the united states by the first amendment. they just do not have the power to change any of that. the fact that, you know, the secretary of state in the united states saying this film is bad and reprehensible and disgusting -- that is an expression of her opinion. it is not a promise to introduce legislation to curb that. they should listen to the prime
5:17 am
minister of turkey, the president of egypt, you know, the pakastani is. all these muslim countries. what they are really seeking is an amendment of the first amendment, and that just is not going to happen. >> should there not the laws against inciting, as it were, religious hatred? there are such laws in some countries -- the united kingdom. presumably those are lots you think should exist, no? >> i do not think that such laws should exist. if you look at the history of the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, the freedom of expression in europe and america, this is the culmination of the victory of the individual. it has become one of the most basic human rights. this was not achieved overnight. hundreds of years went by and all of these freedoms were not
5:18 am
available. do we not want to appease people in the arab and muslim worlds who are not there yet by indulging them and saying, okay, let's go back a couple hundred years? or should we say, you guys should catch up with us, and then our elected leaders should explain that to them. we are not going back. >> do you expect -- do you accept though that muslims have the right to be offended, first of all but if done, and now by the cartoon? do you think they have the right to be offended by these things? >> the freedom of speech, freedom of expression that is constitutionally -- that protects the rights to offend. it does not protect good manners. i do not want to insult anyone and i hate people insulting one another, their religions, etc., etc., but that is what it for
5:19 am
tax. so, there's no point pretending otherwise. and the united states, i am following the elections. what would republicans say about the democrats? it hurts. it hurts democrats deeply. >> we have got to go. >> that is protected. >> you do accept that the majority of muslims who are offended by the foam are offended, they are not violent. they have the right to be offended if they feel their religion, their culture is under attack? >> absolutely. i mean, the majority is offended, but in their offense, i think what they should do, the majority of muslims, for them to be credible is to object to real human suffering. let me give you an example. you just reported on pakistan.
5:20 am
in mid august, i believe it was august 14, a 14-year-old girl was raped and pakistan by five men. bout was national news. there is no demonstration of any kind. no outrage of any kind. this happens throughout the muslim world all the time. there is no outrage in the muslim world when human life is taken, when charges are burned, when muslims -- i know of homicidal few -- when they say and do bad things. but then some video somewhere in the south of california -- >> i understand. i'm sorry. >> it is not credible. >> we have all heard of righteous blogs. this is the first of a trilogy.
5:21 am
the first part appeared in 1960. at that time tehama -- at that time, j.k. rowling had not even been born. he is called by another children's writer, philip pullman, as better than tolkien. we went to see him. >> [speaking latin] >> the flames of the room with the ruby like. the shape shifter opened the book. [speaking latin] what is she up to? "i don't know, but it is giving me goose flesh." >> i remember as a child thinking "why don't i live in an
5:22 am
interesting place? nothing ever happens here." i read a lot of books. i liked fantasy. i thought it was normality. as i grew older, i realized it was not normality. it was strange. i inherited -- >> we tracked writer alan garner down where archaeologists are digging up an 18th-century barn right beside his house. in his books, sue -- too, what is ancient and underground is never far away. towards, wizard -- towards, wizards, children with month -- magical bracelet's. >> i promise you susan's bracelet.
5:23 am
its bright deaths were hidden beneath a milky veil. -- its bright depths hidden by at a milky veil. she went to stand or the faint glow could hardly push back the darkness. >> i said it was secluded year, home is storied overlooked by a telescope, of which more later. he is a writer of fantasy, but he is also a writer of place. >> in the rock above, right there, the face. and that is the face of the wizard. and it was carved by my great, -- great great great
5:24 am
grandfather robert garner. >> that is almost more fantastical then your story. >> it is more fantastical because it is true. >> but is your story true? >> yes. >> is the wizard true? >> yes. but not in the literal sense. you'll never be able to photograph him. >> but now, 50 years on, there have been fresh sightings of characters in his first children's books, colin and his sister. >> 'alan?" "yes, stephen?" "it is good to think of you this way." why have you put these into your new novel? >> they work on the same
5:25 am
principle as the radio telescope does, collecting information from the galaxies. the character who works here in the novel is an astrophysicist who may or may not be going mad. when you are using them, it is very close to a psychotic break inside the head. >> in 'boneland" colin is at the gp surgery where a woman is reading a story about a which -- witch to a job. >> whatever you do, do not go upstairs. you must not go upstairs. the receptionist came from a desk. "you must not go." >> i have been upstairs.
5:26 am
they are not hen's legs. you mustn't. boy.s funny, says the he makes me laugh. >> why has he left it so long to complete his weirdstone trilogy? >> i had enough of the two main characters. i have lived with them for eight years. they had not moved on and i had. i refuse to spend any more time with them. i just could not abide. also, i have more ideas. >> so, it was not a publisher's phone call. i suspect you would not respond kindly to that? >> i say with all humility,
5:27 am
publishers do not make phone calls. i cannot do it if it is not their. if it is there, i cannot stop it. >> that was steve smith. that is all for this week. from all of us, goodbye. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> at union bank, our
5:28 am
relationship managers work hard to know your business. -- to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> bbc world ne
5:29 am

152 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on